Thomas and Sarah (Ruddell) Davis
 
Subject: Sarah RUDDELL and Thomas DAVIS
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 08:53:56 -0400
From: "Stephen Maul" <phc-mti@nb.net>
To: "Bob Francis" <darby@visi.net>
 
Thanks Bob for starting this list! Great idea.
 
My wife is related to Sarah RUDDELL and Thomas DAVIS who were both captured when they were about 12 years old. I think they were held captive for about 4 years. After their release they returned to VA. Some time later, 1791, they were married. They moved back into KY and later to MO.

Some reports list Sarah as a daughter of Isaac RUDDELL, but this is an error. Isaac was her uncle, Archibald was her father.

Thomas DAVIS's family presumably were settlers near the fort and had taken refuge at the fort. I know nothing about his family but I hope this list will help me find something.

I accumulated the following from various sources:

Sarah Ruddell was 12 years old as was Thomas Davis, whom she later married, when they were carried away, captive, by the British and Indians from Ruddle's Station in 1780. Just why she was there is a moot question. The Ruddells seem to have been a closely knit clan, her brother James, was in the garrison there, and it may be that she had come to visit him and her Uncle Isaac's family. (Sarah has been reported incorrectly to be the daughter of Isaac.)

It is probable that Thomas and his parents were among the settlers living around Ruddle's Station., and that they hurried there for protection when the attack was imminent. Sarah and Thomas were led away captive. They remained among the Shawnee Indians for a number of years.

Presumably they returned to VA when released; Thomas was still there when he married Sarah in 1791. Just when they left VA and moved to KY is not certain but, in 1802 Elizabeth their daughter was born in KY. They, with their children, moved to Pike Co., MO about 1825 - 1828. The 1830 census for Pike Co., MO listed Thomas Davis, 60-70, with 1 male 15-20 (William?), 1 female 5-10 (a gr. dau.?) 1 female 20-30 (probably Sarah T. just prior to her marriage), and 1 female 60-70 (Sarah Ruddell Davis). In 1850 census, Sarah, then age 82, living with her son William in Pike Co., MO. Sarah and Thomas's daughter, Sarah T. married Rev. Thomas Johnson, a Methodist preacher, who founded the Old Shawnee Mission in what is now Johnson County, KS. When she came to live with her daughter she found many Shawnees who had known in Ohio when in captivity. They were much attached to her before she was rescued and they were greatly pleased to have her with them there. She knew the Shawnee language as well as she knew her own and the Shawnees spent hours and hours talking to her about old times.